Libero

John Brewin, Jonathan Wilson and Tariq Panja are here to talk about the world’s biggest domestic fixture - self-styled, perhaps, but deservedly so - it's 'El Clasico'. Real Madrid v Barcelona, as the fixture will be this Sunday, comes at a tumultuous time for La Liga, with the contentious battle over playing matches overseas very much a hot topic. That is discussed, plus the game's history, the tw...

Ange Postecoglou was sacked as Nottingham Forest manager on Saturday, after just 39 days in charge. On today’s episode, Miguel Delaney, Rory Smith and Jack Pitt-Brooke discuss his brief tenure and ask why Postecoglou took that difficult job in the first place. Postecoglou has had a distinctive career and remains an interesting figure. So what is it about him and his skills that stands out? Is it h...

The Premier League is back, and Arsenal are top of it. There are plenty of reasons to believe they can stay there, too: the deepest squad in the country, an outstanding manager, an uncanny ability to score 95th minute goals from corners. So why does it feel as though every week brings a referendum on their character? Do we undervalue the work Mikel Arteta has done? Is it all part of a PGMOL plot?...

Jude Bellingham is seen as England's biggest star, which is why it's very glaring that Thomas Tuchel has broken with decades of protocol and left the Real Madrid man out of his latest squad. Amid talks of the need for squad harmony and the manager's previous comments about Bellingham "intimidating" teammates, there's clearly more to his absence than fitness. Is Tuchel just laying down the law? Or...

Hated, adored, never ignored, Margaret Thatcher is one of the most important figures in the history of the country that is home to the world's wealthiest domestic league – this cannot be a coincidence. Jack Pitt-Brooke, John Brewin and Rory Smith discuss how the Premier League has become almost entirely a-political, whether this is a key reason for its rise and if Thatcher's greatest legacy is the...

Saturday brought Liverpool’s third defeat in a week, following reverses at Crystal Palace and the cauldron of RAMS Park, home to Galatasaray. If you were a football doctor and were looking to diagnose reasons for Arne Slot's team looking more like pretenders than champions, what would say? To answer that question Rory Smith is joined Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja. P1: (01:35) P2: (40:33) Produced...

Dressing rooms sharing posts about refereeing decisions, managers complaining about their nicknames on X and social media troll campaigns, football is very online these days. Is this just another case of football predicting society? Is it completely a bad thing? Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Tariq Panja discuss. P1: (12:56) P2: (36:40) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via liberopodcast0@gma...

No progressive football club’s project is complete without an authorised streaming documentary series. They’ve become a significant contribution to football’s reinvention as a content provider. Does authenticity matter? Is Wrexham’s celebrity-assisted rise to be welcomed? John Brewin, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Rory Smith enter the scripted realities of Phil Parkinson, Tom Brady, Brendan Rodgers et al t...

What does Aston Villa’s sudden fall from grace say about the wisdom of basing a football club around one man in Unai Emery? Rory Smith, James Horncastle and John Brewin consider a club dogged by PSR and VAR and the implications of transfer guru Monchi stepping away. Villa aren’t alone in their start to the season being poor. West Ham and Wolves are also in the crisis club category, with open rebel...

Two of the biggest Premier League stories in September came away from the pitch, and specifically in the boardrooms of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. First was the sacking of Daniel Levy, Tottenham’s seemingly all-powerful chairman, after 24 years running Spurs in his own unique way. Then, one week later, came the removal of Tim Lewis, Arsenal’s executive vice-chair, who had run Arsenal for the la...

Ruud Gullit has been booked. iShowSpeed is getting his tuxedo ready. Kaka will be around, probably. That’s right: it’s Ballon d’Or time, and on today’s Libero, John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Rory Smith — Libero’s balls of gold — discuss the shifting meaning of the trophy, whether the obsession with it is an exclusively modern phenomenon, and the tension of individual awards in a team sport. P1: (...

The Champions League is back. Or more specifically, the league phase, which starts with matchday one spread over the course of this week. On today’s episode, Jack Pitt-Brooke, James Horncastle and Jonathan Wilson all look forward to this season’s competition and ask whether anyone will be able to challenge Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain for the crown. James explains why this might be the year...

Sunday sees the first Meeting of Manchester United and Manchester City of the season at the Etihad. On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Miguel Delaney and John Brewin look at the fixture and ask whether it is still one of the biggest in the Premier League calendar. The dynamic between the two clubs has been flipped in the last 15 years, with City now the dominant team of this era and United lurch...

Libero returns with its smuggest and most chin-strokey lineup ever, as the first-time combination of Rory Smith, Jonathan Wilson and James Horncastle talk about the evolution of tactics. Have we seen football's final great innovation? What does the renewed focus on set-piece mastery say about modern coaching? Does intuition trump all? Can they answer any of these questions without talking about Pe...

He’s the greatest manager in Arsenal’s modern history and the Emirates a monument to his reinvention of the club. Arsene Wenger is one of the most influential figures of the Premier League era but also in French football from his time at Monaco, and is still involved in the game he loves as an employee of Fifa.  But could he have won more in France and England? He never got to write his own epitap...

What's that you say? Every Libero squad member on one podcast? That's right, in order of appearance, Rory Smith, Jonathan Wilson, John Brewin, Miguel Delaney, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Tariq Panja and James Horncastle are here to talk about the most financially lubricated summer in football history - the Premier League's great (and late) spending splurge. We hear about what it's like to try and cover the...

Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United tenure reached a new low on Wednesday night as they were knocked out of the League Cup by Grimsby Town. Critics say he is too wedded to his 3-4-3 system, but has his ideological approach bought him more time than a more pragmatic manager would get? On today’s Libero, Rory Smith, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Jonathan Wilson discuss Amorim’s struggles and the importance of h...

The European club season is now underway, with the Champions League draw to follow on Thursday. James Horncastle and Miguel Delaney join John Brewin to discuss some of the key questions from the continent. The rest of Europe is taking some surprising decisions to keep up with the Premier League’s riches. Each of the so-called top-five leagues have taken different approaches. Can they work? Or are...

The biggest story of this summer’s transfer window is Alexander Isak. The Newcastle United striker is so desperate for a move that he has not been training with Newcastle United, and on Tuesday night he finally went public about his desire to leave. On today’s Libero, Jonathan Wilson, Rory Smith and Jack Pitt-Brooke try to get to the bottom of the story of the summer. How outraged should we be by...

It’s the initialism on many people’s lips as the transfer window rages on. PSR, profit and sustainability rules: what are they good for? Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja join John Brewin to pick through the weeds of surrounding what is, in reality, a rather a dry financial regulation covering accountancy to stop clubs spending beyond their means. Though, of course, as it’s modern football, where sel...

Is there a chance that Manchester City's imperial era is over, and might Arsenal-Liverpool be what replaces it? As everyone - again - waits for 'the City case' to end, there are other new uncertainties about Pep Guardiola and his team, whereas we know much more about what the champions and Arsenal are about. Could this herald a new rivalry at the top? Have Arsenal done enough? Have Liverpool done...

Jonathan Wilson sets the new season’s agenda for Jack Pitt-Brooke and John Brewin ahead of Friday’s big kick-off. The title, the drop, the transfer market coming back in a big way and (30:17) the current trend for hulking No 9s are all discussed. Every team gets a mention. Well, apart from one. Can you guess who?  Produced by: Tom Bassam Join the Libero Fantasy League: fantasy.premierleague.com/le...

On today’s Libero Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jonathan Wilson and Tariq Panja turn their attention to the Championship. Is it still the most competitive league in the world? Or has that myth gone the same way as similar claims about the Premier League. With parachute payments distorting the competitive balance of the Championship so much, does it make the promotion race more predictable than ever? It’s hard...

He’s the undoubted coaching genius of 21st century football, admired, aspired to, much imitated and rarely bettered, but this summer has been one of unusual uncertainty for Pep Guardiola. Can Manchester City be revived? Does he have the players to achieve that? Jonathan Wilson, John Brewin and Miguel Delaney share their memories of Guardiola’s 17 years at the pinnacle of the game and (37:10) wonde...

On today’s podcast, James Horncastle, Jonathan Wilson and Jack Pitt-Brooke turn their attention to next week’s Champions League qualifiers, and particularly Jose Mourinho, who will take his Fenerbahce team to Feyenoord. So why are we still so fascinated by Mourinho even as his career moves further away from the top of the game? Does he embody something that the modern game is short of? And why did...